Nightcap
by Juliet Knighly
Summary: One-shot. Daisy finds Lincoln in a dangerous situation one night. Angsty StaticQuake. To those of you that like this story: we are not friends.
**AN: I got this freaking plot bunny and it wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote this, even though I despise this ship. Its my best friend's fault. Mikayla, you're a buffalo. I hope the writers drop a thousand atom bombs on your ship. With that said, read on for angsty StaticQuake. *bangs head on wall for uttering such words***

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Daisy sat up in bed with a small gasp. She wondered if eventually you just got used to the nightmares and went back to sleep after them. If that time existed, she hadn't gotten there yet.

Throwing off her covers, she pulled on some leggings and a tank top, figuring a little exercise would put her racing heart to good use.

Heading towards the kitchen, she was surprised to see a light on. Daisy glanced at her watch. Three twenty-eight. No one should've been up.

The girl inhaled sharply when she entered the dining area. Lincoln sat at the table, resting his chin on his arms, a few tears making their way silently down his face. He was staring at a bottle of vodka.

Her mind worked quickly to asses the situation. She had figured he might have trouble sleeping for a while, but she never thought it'd be this bad.

 _Yesterday's mission had been stressful to say the least. They were short handed first of all, and then their target had turned out to be the wrong-actions-right-reason type of criminal, his wife dying from a rare disease that could only be cured with an experimental drug the doctors wouldn't give her. So he'd been stealing it. Unfortunately, it happened to be created from alien technology_ _, which was why the team had been called in. When they'd confronted the man, weapons were drawn and fired, but none of them had noticed the little blonde six year old standing behind her father. Until her little voice had called out to her daddy as she fell._

 _The bullet had come from Lincoln's gun, which he'd promptly dropped as he rushed to catch the child. Her blue eyes stared up at him, unseeing and beginning to glaze. Not caring about who was watching, he laid her down and proceeded to use his powers to try and bring her back to life. But a minute later her eyes were still blank._

 _Daisy pulled her boyfriend away, as Mack restrained the little girl's father and Coulson checked the fallen guards. Lincoln hadn't spoken since._

Daisy knocked quietly on the doorframe. "Hey."

She saw his eyes flick to her, but that was the only acknowledgement he gave. Knowing he was in a precarious position, she stayed where she was.

"You know, what happened yesterday wasn't-"

"Stop. Don't even try to use that on me. I know damn well it was my fault," he said, glaring up at her. The brokenness in his eyes scared her.

"No, you don't. It could've been any of us. There were bullets everywhere, we don't know whose it was."

He raised himself onto his elbows, staring back at the bottle and fiddling with it. Daisy shifted and raised one hand slightly. She knew that one sip was all it would take. She couldn't let him get that far.

When he spoke again, his voice was strained.

"No. It was me. I saw her the same instant I pulled the trigger, and it was like time slowed down. I watched the bullet hit her chest. She looked up and stared right at me. Then she called for her dad..."

More tears began to pour down his face. The girl's composure broke, and she bit her lip to keep from crying, swallowing the lump in her throat as she made her way to sit next to him.

"Lincoln, look at me. In this line of work, accidents happen. Things go wrong so often it's like we never had a plan in the first place. But you can't let it get to you. You can't blame yourself."

His watery eyes met hers. "Daisy, I never wanted this. I wanted to be a doctor, to help people. Not murder little kids."

Her hands cradled his face, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"You are _not_ a murderer, Lincoln. You're kind, compassionate, unselfish, and an amazing person. What happened was an accident, and yeah, it's gonna hurt for a while. But don't let that redefine you."

It was silent for a moment as he absorbed her words, then he leaned forward and kissed her, sad but gentle. She mirrored him.

When they separated, he sighed. "It's late. You should get some sleep."

"So should you," Daisy stated, carefully gauging his reaction. He shrugged.

"I guess I can pretend," he said, both of them standing at the same time. He bent down and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.

"Goodnight Daisy."

"Goodnight Lincoln."

When he had gone, the girl turned to the liquor bottle on the table, her eyes narrowed. She examined the label, but it was in Russian, which meant that it had probably been a gift for Coulson from Natasha Romanoff. Probably not a good idea to dump it as she'd planned.

She picked it up and carried it back to her room, worried that another nightmare might push the electrokinetic over the edge. Hiding the vodka in her dresser, she closed her door and laid back down, letting her eyelids drift shut.

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 **AN: See, I must be a decent writer if I can write for my anti-ship and think that it actually turned out okay. Leave a review and let me know what you thought. Buffalo, this is for you. Happy Un-Birthday, you therapy-needing water bison!**


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